Shop Around For Best Prices

The following funeral-related prices are drawn from several sources, listed below. Funeral consumers should be warned: Prices vary greatly. Even Costco, after all, sells caskets.

Cosmetology: $50

Restoration (per hour): $50

Dressing/placing body in casket: $300

Flowers: from $300

Cremation alone: from $300

Individual burial space: $400 to $500 per space

Grave opening charge: $400 to $600 per space

Marker or gravestone: Beginning at $400

Embalming: $500

Embalming of autopsied remains: $600

Funeral home visitation: $600 to $1,200

Basic arrangements (including, according to one contract at a New York funeral home: ``funeral director, other staff, equipment, and facilities to respond to initial request for service, the arrangement conference, securing of necessary authorization and coordination of service plans with parties involved in the disposition of the deceased''): $1,400

Average casket: Slightly more than $2,000, but prices vary a great deal Sources: Federal Trade Commission; www.funeralplan.com; www.fool.com; Final Arrangements Network; National Funeral Directors Association.